Take Good Care of my Baby
by TomTheCat1
Summary: A Sole Survivor (F) one shot where someone has a message for Piper. Something I thought up while listening to the Bobby Vee song of the same name earlier today.


**Publick Occurrences **

**Diamond City**

**December, 2288**

The Sole Survivor of Vault 111 pushes open the door of the Publick Occurrences office, also the home of Piper Wright, her closest companion. A waft of cold air and flurry of snow follow Irene into the building, and she quickly closes the door so as to not let out too much heat.

The first person Irene sees is Nat, Piper's little sister. She's tinkering with the printing press, oiling the gears and bearings, but looks up at the sound of the door.

"Hi, Irene." Nat says warmly, returning to her work.

"Hi, Nat." The Survivor replies, setting down the bag of what Wastelanders would call 'groceries', but Pre-War folk might wonder if any of it was edible.

The unmistakable scent of cigarette smoke enters the room and Irene looks around, quickly finding the source.

"Hey, doll." Piper leans against a post by the staircase, lit Grey Tortoise in hand. She steps into the room and greets Irene with a warm hug.

"How's the weather, Blue?"

"Typical Commonwealth winter." The Survivor huffs, stripping off her thick winter coat and scarf. "About as cold as the Vault, maybe a few degrees lower."

Piper chuckles, curiously poking into the bag.

"The markets are practically giving stuff away because of the cold." Irene says, taking out her own cigarette pack and beginning to light one. "That tin of Rad Stag? Ten caps."

Her girlfriend looks up in surprise, nearly knocking the bag over.

"It's normally fifty! Ten? For _this _much? It'll take a week to eat all this stuff, Blue!"

"Good thing I went out today, huh?" Irene sits down on the couch. "To think, you didn't want me too."

"Because it's freezing outside." Piper joins her moments later, flicking some ashes into a tray on the table. "I don't know what winters you're used to, but Post-Nuclear-Apocalypse winters are _cold_."

The Survivor simply shrugs, finding herself watching Nat continue working on the press. A pulley seems to have gotten stuck and she's tugging on it with a wrench.

"I'm telling you, Piper." The small girl says. "This thing is past it's last leg and is now on it's last ankle stump."

"It'll be fine." The troublesome journalist stands and nudges her sister out of the way. She takes hold of the wrench and gives it a few short yanks, making the pulley spin freely. She grins and spins it again with one finger. "See?"

"You must be magic or something, Sis." Nat says, shaking her head and snatching away the wrench.

"Maybe it's all that radiation from the Glowing Sea?" Irene suggests.

"Ooooooohhh!" Piper wiggles her fingers like a magician around Nat's head, and the smaller girl tries unsuccessfully wave them away.

"Stop it!" She squeals. Irene watches the spectacle, smiling nostalgically.

_"I wonder if me and Shaun would've been like that?"_ After a moment she shakes her head.

_"No, that would definitely be Nate."_

Irene is pulled from her thoughts by the song on the radio ending and being replaced with the DJ's voice.

_"Hey there, guys and gals of Diamond City and beyond. Travis 'Lonely' Miles here, bringing you the best tunes and fastest news in the Commonwealth."_

The Survivor takes another drag, waiting for Travis to continue.

_"What I'm about to say is a bit...unusual. But hey! There's no shortage of that around here! Earlier this morning, a man dropped by my place here at Diamond City Radio, with a request. I didn't see him walk in, and he vanished just as suddenly as he arrived, but this 'Mysterious Stranger' left a note, which I'm now opening."_

Travis' microphone picks up the faint sound of crinkling paper. He clears his throat and begins to read.

_"To: My Love. I'm glad to see that you have moved on. Though our last moments together we're very unpleasant, for lack of a better term, I knew you would persevere."_

Irene and Piper glance at each other in confusion. Nat moves to the radio and turns up the volume.

_"I've watched over your trials and tribulations. Through the good and bad, the thick and thin, even at this very moment, I'm with you."_

_"No...it couldn't be…" _The Survivor looks down at the gold band on her finger.

_"Enclosed is an audio tape which contains a song. I'd like it to be played at the end of this message, as it is for your new companion. Keep each other safe. This world is very different from the one we're used to. _

_From: Your Loving Husband."_

Piper looks at her partner, who still has her eyes glued to her ring. Shortly after Travis' voice stops, a song begins. A few slow piano notes, and a man singing. 

_"My tears are fallin'_

_'Cause you've taken her away_

_And though it really hurts me so_

_There's something that I've gotta say:_

_Take good care of my baby_

_Please don't ever make her blue_

_Just tell her that you love her_

_Make sure you're thinkin' of her_

_In everything you say and do."_

Irene locks eyes with Piper, the latter with an expression of slight confusion, the former on the verge of tears.

"It's him." The Survivor whispers, looking back at the radio. "It's...its Nate."

_"Aww. Take good care of my baby_

_Now don't you ever make her cry_

_Just let your love surround her_

_Paint a rainbow all around her_

_Don't let her see a cloudy sky."_

Piper places her hand on Irene's shoulder, and she doesn't react, instead staring at the radio. 

_"Once upon a time_

_That little girl was mine_

_If I'd been true_

_I know she'd never be with you, so_

_Take good care of my baby_

_Be just as kind as you can be_

_And if you should discover_

_That you don't really love her_

_Just send my baby_

_Back home_

_To _

_Me."_

"Gosh...you okay, Blue?" Piper asks timidly.

The reply is simply Irene digging her face into her companion's shoulder, quietly sobbing. Piper wraps her arms around her, still not fully understanding what is happening. 

_"Well, take good care of my baby_

_Be just as kind as you can be_

_And if you should discover_

_That you don't really love her_

_Just send my baby back home_

_To_

_Me_

_Aww take good care of my baby_

_Well, take good care of my baby_

_Just take good care of_

_My _

_Baby."_

The radio, as well as the room, are silent for a long moment. Piper's mind suddenly flashes with memories. First meeting Irene at the gates to the city, accompanying her to Nick Valentine's office where she told about what happened in the Vault, then later to the Memory Den where the event was on full display for everyone in the room.

_"It was Nate." _Piper repeats to herself.

A few weeks after their relationship had taken off, Irene took Piper on a trip down memory lane. The law office Downtown Boston that she had once worked in, Sanctuary Hills and her old robotic butler Codsworth, then the hike up the hill to the Vault, where she described in great detail how that fateful day transpired. A normal Sunday morning, seeing the news report of 'Blinding Flashes', the sirens, running in terror to the Vault, the blast, being frozen, waking briefly to watch Nate be shot by Kellogg and Shaun being taken away, then waking up and fleeing the Vault, only to find a Wasteland that she once called home.

Seeing all of those people inside their cryo pods, the dead Radroaches, the deceased Vault-Tec employees ...Nate. Irene had said "Goodbye" to him that day, closing his pod one last time and leaving the Vault forever, sealing it as a grave for her former friends, neighbors and husband.

_"I don't know about you, folks." _Travis speaking through the radio startles Piper out of her thoughts. She narrows her eyes at the tiny machine. How dare it interrupt her? _"But I think I need a tissue. That was truly beautiful, and I'm sure everyone, even the ones who that message was for, would agree. I hope they we're listening and got to hear it, and even if they weren't, here's some music for the rest of you. This is a favorite of mine: Orange Colored Sky, by Nat King Cole."_

Nat turns the radio volume back down, turning around to see her sister hugging Irene tightly. Piper looks up at her and gestures to Nat's room, where she quickly and quietly retreats to.

Several minutes tick by before the Survivor pulls away, her face and Piper's shirt wet with tears.

"You think that was Nate?" The reporter asks.

Her partner nods slowly, wiping her face. "Who else could it have been? Or at least, who else could've it have been for?"

"I don't know." Piper shrugs. "Maybe someone else was on ice for two hundred years but had to leave their husband behind, then later wound up in a relationship with someone in the Wasteland."

Irene gives her companion a shove.

"I'm just kidding, Blue." Piper says with a warm smile. "I bet it was him, too. "The world we're used to.", "Unpleasant last moments.". That's you and Nate in spades, if everything you've told me is any indication."

The Survivor sniffles, reaching into her grocery bag and producing two bottles of Nuka Cola.

"You know, you said "Goodbye" to Nate in the Vault." Piper begins. At her companion's nod, she continues. "Maybe that message was him saying "Goodbye" and giving you his approval of me." The reporter looks down at the glass rocket-shaped bottle, it's brilliant red label fading with age. She pops of the cap and the bottle hisses, the beverage slightly bubbling. "It's not very often I receive approval or praise from anyone, especially after I've technically stolen their wife." Piper gives her companion a sheepish grin, and Irene simply smiles.

"I think Nate would've liked you." She says, taking a swing of her cola. "I'm not sure why, but I think he would."

"I do love you, Irene." Piper says after a moment. "Although, given the context of that message and song, I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I do."

"It's good. Very good." Irene confirms. "If it was bad, Nate's ghost would probably follow us around and torment you every chance he got. But, if you want out of this relationship, now you know what to do."

"What? Kill my only friend? The leader of the Minutemen? Director of the Institute?" Piper takes Irene's hand, their fingers intertwining. "I could never do that. How would I live with myself? Hell, I probably wouldn't live long enough to answer that question."

The two share a laugh, but Irene cut's Piper's off with a passionate kiss. As the song on the radio ends, the two women relax together on the couch, Piper taking a moment to look up at the ceiling and the cloudy, cold sky above.

_"I'll love her forever, Nate." _She says silently. _"And I'll keep us safe. I promise."_

**_The End_**

* * *

**Just a quick one shot to help me get past some Writers Block. My other stories will be updated soon, I promise!**

**I hope you all enjoyed. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
